Chamber and committees

Right. I just want to say that, although I have no residential letting interests to declare, I have a 50 per cent share in two commercial property lettings, one of which is in England and the other in Scotland. Both are let on long-term leases and I take no income from either.

On what you said about local authorities, as a former trading standards officer I had to go through getting certain skill sets and diplomas. Will not what you described involve changing the skill sets of our planners and other people in the council? Have you also taken that into account?

I echo that comment. We will be opposing the motion.

Miles Briggs asked about SMEs. I will touch on the cost of upskilling, which Peter Drummond mentioned.

The economic cost of upskilling one trader may be between £1,200 and £2,500. We have spoken about the fact that, with the timeframe and the costs associated with upskilling, if no grants or other help are available, the regulations will significantly impact smaller businesses, which are really suffering after the pandemic.

I have put some context on what the figure might be. If someone can tell me that a grant will be available, as Charlotte Lee mentioned, that is fine but, otherwise, what would that cost mean for smaller businesses?

Are you working with the Federation of Small Businesses and other such organisations? It can sometimes be hard to reach out to every individual small business.

Are you aware that students have been really affected by cases of landlords making prices higher? I know from the Indian student groups and associations who have contacted me that some students have had to go back because they could not find appropriate accommodation, as the rents are so high that they cannot afford them. Sometimes there is even a lack of supply of housing in the market for rent.

Thank you. I was going to ask about building warrants. Do you anticipate the council having any other involvement with those regulations? We have spoken about planning and building warrants. Will councils be expected to do more of anything else, or to do it differently?

I will touch on what Fionna Kell said about the significant impact on the supply of homes.

We have a housing emergency and the Scottish Government is failing to meet its target of building 50,000 affordable homes. It is also estimated that only 500 heat installers operate in Scotland. That compares with 8,700 registered engineers who are qualified to work on boilers. Are you concerned about—you touched on this—the impact of the regulations on new builds, especially affordable homes?

Good morning, everybody. I have no interests to declare.

It is good to hear that you are working with many partners. There are two areas that it would be good to hear about from both ministers. The first area is the digital divide. We all know that it is so hard for people who are in digital poverty to participate in democracy—ultimately, they cannot participate. How are you looking to work on that?

The second area, which I spoke a lot about in the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, is outreach—making sure that we are reaching out to all communities, including the disability community and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. How are you looking to reach out to those communities to encourage them to participate and to empower them?